Investment philosophy

Below are quotes from the RFP that Savant Capital Management submitted in May 2009.

We are proponents of an indexed and passive approach to investing. We believe markets are very efficient. Accordingly, we content that it is very difficult, if not impossible to consistently “beat the market” through stock selection and market timing techniques. While it is always possible to identify the winners after the fact, such top performers rarely repeat their above-average returns. While picking tomorrow’s winners is the focus of much of the financial industry, there is a huge body of academic and industry evidence that shows that “active” management merely adds significant cost, risk, and uncertainty. Furthermore, the additional risk associated with trying to beat the market tends to make it difficult to achieve effective diversification.

We contend that over the long term, a properly-engineered equity portfolio, based on modern portfolio theory (MPT), will earn a 2-3% return advantage, with less volatility, than typical market based index funds.